Reinventing yourself @ midlife (part 2)

Well here is my second part of how to look better, feel better and  just be better at work and life. Words of inspiration from Suzanne Somers. Let me know what you think. Here at New PRimeTime.com, we are passionate about spreading the message that it isn't all downhill as we hit our 40's, and 50's and beyond. Our mission!

Step 4: Create a Healthy G.I. Tract

• Without a healthy gut, you cannot have health. The gastrointestinal tract is the largest component of your immune system.

• If you don't chew your food long enough to break it down, large clumps of food will be trying to work their way through the maze of your gut, causing indigestion, acid reflux, gas, bloating, and other uncomfortable symptoms and disease.

• When the GI tract deteriorates, you may experience more serious problems: allergies, cancer,rheumatoid arthritis, scleroderma, lupus, irritable bowel syndrome, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, psoriasis, and eczema.

• Surprisingly, macular degeneration-the leading cause of central vision loss for those over 50 inthe U.S.-has its origins in the GI tract.

• Eat probiotics like acidophilus and bifidobacteria, take digestive enzymes, eat some raw food daily, and consume optimum amounts of fiber and essential fatty acids.

Step 5: Avoid Pharmaceuticals Unless Absolutely Necessary

• Pharmaceuticals are a godsend for pain, infection, mental illness, and other conditions, butwhenever you can treat a problem or condition without pharmaceuticals, it is always the better, safer way.

• Drugs don't heal, they "handle" the ailment, often causing dangerous side effects.

• Instead of Ambien for sleep problems, why not take melatonin, a natural over-the-counterhormone intended for sleep and also an effective antioxidant made in our bodies until we reach middle age.

• Statins (like Lipitor) inhibit the creation of cholesterol, but harm the cells' mitochondria, causing problems both with brain cell development and energy. Instead of statins, why not take over-the- counter niacin and/or nattokinase, a natural blood thinner?

• Bioidentical hormone replacement helps regulate your mood and can eliminate the need for antidepressants. It also helps control cholesterol.

Step 6: Supplement Your Diet

• Our food supply is horribly depleted and largely deficient, contaminated by pesticides,herbicides, cold storage, early picking, "beautifying" at supermarkets, nonorganic soils, acid rain, and much more. To get all the proper nutrients we need to build healthy cells, it is vital we supplement our already good diets.

• Every cell in the body requires good nutrition to replicate. Supplementation makes sense, putting back into your body what is lost due to toxicity, stress, or normal aging.

• Resveratrol protects against disease, curcumin eliminates free radicals, pomegranate extracts help protect against heart disease and prostate cancer, green tea extracts increase fat burning and improve insulin sensitivity, and essential fatty acids such as fish oils strengthen cell membranes.

Step 7: Exercise Regularly

• Even a brand new car, left in the garage for weeks, will sputter and choke from lack of use when you go to start it up.

• Walking 40 minutes a day is miraculous for the frame.

• Free weights stimulate bone growth and give beautiful definition to our muscles.

• Chose something you know you will stick with.

Step 8: Get Proper Sleep

• Cortisol is a major hormone and if it is high, sleep is impossible. It is our stress hormone and in today's world, our job pressures, financial concerns, multitasking, and high-pressured lifestyles trigger cortisol all the time.

• Cortisol is highly sensitive to light. You must sleep in complete darkness. Even the smallest light can raise your cortisol levels, interfering with your sleep, because cortisol regards light as meaning that it is still time to be active.

• It is essential to go to bed two to three hours before midnight so your body can do its healingwork. The National Institutes of Health conclude that six hours of prolactin production in the dark is the minimum necessary to maintain immune function like T-cell and beneficial killer-cell production. You can't get six hours of prolactin secretion on six hours of sleep a night because it takes at least three and a half hours of melatonin secretion before the pituitary hormone prolactin is released.

• There are ways to retrain your body to sleep. From sunset on, dim the lights in your house or light candles to lower cortisol.

• Taking melatonin supplementation can be helpful.